Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Mar;59(3):171-6.
doi: 10.4103/0019-5049.153039.

Interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder arthroscopic surgery: Prospective randomised controlled study of effects of 0.5% ropivacaine and 0.5% ropivacaine with dexamethasone

Ashok Jadon  1 , Shreya Dixit  1 , Sunil Kr Kedia  1 , Swastika Chakraborty  1 , Amit Agrawal  1 , Neelam Sinha  1
Affiliations

Interscalene brachial plexus block for shoulder arthroscopic surgery: Prospective randomised controlled study of effects of 0.5% ropivacaine and 0.5% ropivacaine with dexamethasone

Ashok Jadon et al. Indian J Anaesth. 2015 Mar.

Abstract

Background and aims: Various adjuvants have been used to prolong the duration of local anaesthetic action after peripheral and regional nerve blocks. We evaluated the effect of dexamethasone on the duration of pain relief in shoulder arthroscopic surgeries performed under interscalene brachial plexus using ropivacaine as local anaesthetic.

Methods: After Ethical Committee approval and informed consent from patients we performed a prospective, randomised, comparative study on patients scheduled for arthroscopic shoulder surgery under interscalene block (ISB). Patients in ropivacaine group (Group R) received 30 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine plus 2 ml normal saline (n = 50) and dexamethasone-ropivacaine (Group RD) received 0.5% ropivacaine 30 ml plus 8 mg dexamethasone (4 mg/ml) (n = 50). Duration of analgesia, onset of sensory and motor block, success and failure of block, and complications were recorded and compared. Computer software SPSS version-16 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Chi-square test and Student's t-test were used and P < 0.05 was considered as significant.

Results: The mean duration of analgesia in Group RD was 1103.72 ± 296.027 min and in Group R it was 551.54 ± 166.92 min (P = 0.0001). Onset of sensory block in Group RD was 12.24 ± 1.88 min and in Group R was 13.48 ± 1.81 min (P = 0.5170). Onset of motor block in Group RD was 16.24 ± 2.04 min and in Group R was 17.76 ± 2.21 min (P = 0.2244). Onset of surgical anaesthesia in Group RD was19.46 ± 1.86 min and in Group R was 20.84 ± 1.71 min (P = 0.0859).

Conclusion: Dexamethasone significantly prolonged duration of analgesia of ropivacaine during ISB used for arthroscopic surgeries of shoulder. Dexamethasone when mixed with ropivacaine had no effect on the onset of sensory and motor effects of ISB with ropivacaine.

Keywords: Brachial plexus block; dexamethasone; interscalene block; ropivacaine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort diagram
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparative post-operative visual analogue scale scores
Figure 3
Figure 3
Number of rescue analgesics used in 24 h
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fredrickson MJ, Krishnan S, Chen CY. Postoperative analgesia for shoulder surgery: A critical appraisal and review of current techniques. Anaesthesia. 2010;65:608–24. - PubMed
    1. Chawda PM, Sharma G. A clinical study comparing epinephrine 200μg or clonidine 90μg as adjuvants to local anaesthetic agent in brachial plexus block via supraclavicular approach. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2010;26:523–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kohli S, Kaur M, Sahoo S, Vajifdar H, Kohli P. Brachial plexus block: Comparison of two different doses of clonidine added to bupivacaine. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2013;29:491–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Movafegh A, Razazian M, Hajimaohamadi F, Meysamie A. Dexamethasone added to lidocaine prolongs axillary brachial plexus blockade. Anesth Analg. 2006;102:263–7. - PubMed
    1. Cummings KC, 3rd, Napierkowski DE, Parra-Sanchez I, Kurz A, Dalton JE, Brems JJ, et al. Effect of dexamethasone on the duration of interscalene nerve blocks with ropivacaine or bupivacaine. Br J Anaesth. 2011;107:446–53. - PubMed